Practicing Community Development

Editor's noteThe following abstract describes a publication that is only available for purchase. A link to ordering information is on this page.

Donald W. LittrellDoris P. Littrell

Community development is a radical profession. It is based on the belief that people can give purposeful direction to their collective future. How this occurs is based on the community, the issues, the current capacity of people and the resource base that is present.

Community development involves work in the ongoing lives of rural, urban and suburban communities. It is an international effort at the community level.

Community development is gaining knowledge and empowerment through a process of collaboration and action. The heart and soul of community development is creating experiences through which people learn they can take ownership of their situation and devise and implement plans of action. The measure of success in a community development effort is the quality of people it produces.

Practicing Community Development focuses on the ethical and practical aspects of community development. It is full of examples of people coming together and working through challenges. The authors use their experience as a base from which to explore how to help community members implement their visions.

This book is for community members and the people in agencies, government and nonprofit organizations who work with them. It can also be used as a textbook for beginning undergraduate and graduate courses in community development or other social sciences.

Table of contents

Chapter one

Community Development Orientation

The profession of community development

Implications for practice

Chapter two

Community Development Assumptions: What We Think About People

People are capable of rational behavior

Significant behavior is learned behavior

Significant behavior is learned through interaction over time

People are capable of giving purposeful direction to their behavior

People are capable of creating, shaping or reshaping much of their collective environment to formulate a desired future

People are in an evolving state of being

Chapter three

Community Development Values: Directions to the Profession

All people have basic dignity

People have the right to participate in decisions that impact their current and future well-being

Participatory democracy is the superior method of conducting the civic business of communities

Special sectionPower

People have the right to strive to create an environment they desire

People have the right to reject an externally imposed environment

Maximizing purposeful interaction and dialogue within a community will increase the potential for learning and development

Special sectionA special case: the religious community

Implied within a process of purposeful interaction is an ever widening concept of community

Every discipline and profession is a potential contributor to a community development process

Motivation is created through interaction with the environment

Community development people and organizations have the responsibility to continually learn to enhance the collective capacity of people and communities

Chapter four

The Foundations of Practice

Democracy

Freedom

Citizen Participation

Self-Help

Self-Governance

Special sectionCommunity-based organizations

Special sectionCommunity development in various political settings

Chapter five

Practicing the Principles

Participation in public decision making should be free and open to all interested people

Broad representation and an increasing breadth of perspective are conditions that are conducive to community development

The use of sound, trusted methods is imperative to the study of the community by the community

Special sectionAction research

Understanding and general agreement are the basis for community decision formation, implementation and enforcement

Any person has the right to be heard in open discussion and dialogue whether they agree with the norms of society

A holistic, systemic approach is key to working with communities

All people can participate in creating and recreating their communities

Special sectionLeadership development

Special sectionThe International Community Development Society's Principles of Good Practice

Chapter six

Administration of Community Development

Administration of a different sort

Funding

Budget management

Staffing

The community role of the staff

Reporting and evaluation

Rewards

Chapter seven

Resources

Books

Courses, manuals and websites

Organizations

Classics

About the authors

Donald W. Littrell worked in community development as a regional and state extension specialist and professor at MU. Other roles he served during his nearly 40 years of work include Fulbright professor in Thailand and consultant to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He died in 2005.

Doris P. Littrell is retired from her position as director of MU Direct: Continuing and Distance Education. She also worked with adults returning to school at Stephens College, and she is involved with nonprofit organizations. Her community development work began as a citizen and continued through taking courses and writing about and teaching in the field.

Don and Doris collaborated as consultants, teachers and trainers. Highlights of their work include helping develop and implement the Community Development Academy in Missouri and a Community Development Institute in both Conway, Ark., and Thibodeaux, La. In 2003 they became involved with Together for Hope, a rural poverty initiative that brings people from 20 of the poorest U.S. counties out of poverty through community development.